Tampa Bay Lightning Finally Solve The Boston Bruins

The Tampa Bay Lightning has finally done it! For the first time since March 12, 2012, in 10 regular season games, the Tampa Bay Lightning has defeated the Boston Bruins.

As the game started, it seemed as if it was going to be a lot more of the same.

Just 33 seconds into the game, Patrice Bergeron scored to give the Bruins a quick one goal lead. It appeared as if the Boston curse over the Lightning would extend to number 11.

Even when Vladislav Namestnikov tied the game at one a little over five minutes into the game, I am sure that most of the Lightning faithful were expecting the worst, hoping for the best.

Then in the blink of an eye it all changed for the Lightning.

Brad Marchand, the instigator for Boston took a cheap shot hip check on Valtteri Filppula. Marchand hit him a good 3 to 5 seconds after he passed the puck off. Well, the captain for the Lightning did not take that well at all.

A few seconds after the cheap Marchand hit, Stamkos charged after Marchand like a Pamplona bull. Dropping his gloves, he rushed Marchand, attempted a left hook and if anyone wondered just how strong Stamkos is, saw the answer with the takedown and pin he served up in one motion on Marchand.

The game changed at this precise moment. Just like the Stanley Cup in 2004 changed when captain Vinny Lecavalier fought Calgary’s captain Jarome Iginla.

As Stamkos was serving his fighting penalty (even seeing these words in print is surreal)“ his team went to work. They found another speed and Boston could not keep up.

A whole 42 seconds after the fight, J.T. Brown split two Boston defenders and lifted the puck over the shoulder of Bruin goalie, Tuuka Rask to give Tampa a 2 to 1 lead. A whole 15 seconds after that goal, Anton Stralman slapped a wicked shot past Rask to give the Lightning a 3 to 1 lead.

At that point, it looked like a bunch of very old men playing a very good, very young team. Today was a visual changing of the guard. The young, fast and gritty Lightning with only one player over the age of 30 (Valtteri Filppula) and he is only 31 years old. Tonight these youngsters beat the old, slow paced, Bruins with five players over the age of 30 who looked tired on the second night of a back to back.

As Boston is fighting for their playoff lives, you knew they were not going to go quietly in the night. They fought back and fought back hard. Boston began working the puck in the Lightning zone and working their cycle well enough to get some good looks on Ben Bishop. Through the 2nd period, Boston had a shots on goal advantage over the Lightning of 10 to 7 but Bishop stood tall and was a wall.

The only goal scored in the middle frame was Jason Garrison off a feed from Tyler Johnson that rocketed past Rask. That blast was so hard that it knocked Rask out of the game. Out went Rask and in came Niklas Svedberg.

As the third period started, the Lightning enjoyed a 4 to 1 lead and Svedberg kept the Bruins in the game. Several times including a two on none breakaway featuring Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos, that should have produced a goal for Tampa but didn’t because Svedberg played out of his mind.

A few minutes later on a power play, Zdeno Chara slapped one of his patented boom shots which Brian Boyle got a stick blade on that deflected over the shoulder of Ben Bishop to cut the Lightning lead to 4 to 2 and nine minutes left.

It now becomes gut check time for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Teams that make long playoff runs know how to put opponents away in the final minutes of a game. How do the Bolts respond?  Ondrej Palat scores a power play goal that all but puts Boston away making it 5 to 2 with about 5 minutes left in regulation.  Daniel Paille scored a meaningless goal with less than a minute to go in the game for the final margin of 5 to 3.

The NHL regular season is a marathon. As the calendar heads to Mid-March, the sprint to the playoffs begins. Throughout it all, there are moments that can define a team. These seminal moments do not occur every game; they may only happen once or twice a season.

Tonight there was one such moment for the Tampa Bay Lightning. When Steven Stamkos charged Brad Marchand, he was sending a message that if you take a cheap shot at one of his guys, there will be a price to pay. Taking up for a fallen team mate is what a good captain does. It is what Stamkos did tonight.

The Lightning is now 16-6-2 against the Eastern Conference teams in the playoff hunt. That speaks volumes for how they will respond playing high caliber teams. They are also the only NHL team that has not lost three games in a row. Yes, we saw a changing of the guard in the Eastern Conference tonight.

Boston began the day with 84 points, one point ahead of the Ottawa Senators who had one game in hand over Boston. After tonight’s game, Boston is holding at 84 points, the idle Senators still have 83 but now have two games on hand over the Bruins. Over the last five games, Ottawa is 5 – 0, while Boston is 0 – 3 – 2.

Like I said, a changing of the guard.

Next up is our in-state rival Florida Panthers at the Amalie Arena on Tueday night. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.

Next: Can the Lightning Defeat Boston?

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